Dave Brubeck – Love Songs

For over 50 years, Dave Brubeck has been sitting quietly behind the keys making some of the biggest sounds in jazz. He’s worked with Davis and Evans and played the music of Porter, Gillespie and even Disney. However, much if not most of his best work was with his trusted quartet, backed by the rhythms of drummer Joe Morello and bassist Eugene Wright and balanced by the signature sax lines of Paul Desmond. On this collection, some of Brubeck’s most romantic and lovingly-delivered offerings are brought together for a career retrospective with a special angle. Handing “My Romance” over to Desmond after a solo introduction and development, Brubeck takes his own sweet time with “In Your Own Sweet Way,” sharing the lead with Desmond’s flugled horn for a west side trip through Sondheim and Bernstein’s “Somewhere.”

The Brubeck-Desmond original “Audrey” invites the noir-y rhythmic talents of Bob Bates and Joe Dodge and a previously unreleased session of “You Go To My Head” lets Desmond take five while clarinetist Bill Smith sits-in. Though “Like Someone in Love” may be a bit peppy to relax by the fire to, Desmond’s smooth delivery and a glass of wine make it all right.

©2002, M. S. Robinson, ARR